


The Beautiful Yet Disastrous Complexity of It All

by AgeOfHemitheos



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29778894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgeOfHemitheos/pseuds/AgeOfHemitheos
Summary: (A PJO/HOO One-Shot Collection) Life...Love...Loss. The fabric of our world is weaved from all three. It binds every one of us without hesitation or consideration. Fight, we try and fight, we do and fight, we will. Yet fate has its way. Life, love, loss. All three, inevitable. All three, necessary. (All prompts are welcome. No promises though:) )
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	The Beautiful Yet Disastrous Complexity of It All

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello there, fellow readers & authors. For those who have never read anything of mine, the title of this one-shot collection is actually a play on my Longfic's summary. (The Dawn of Heroes) Shameless plug, I know, but can you blame me? :)
> 
> I thought it would be a good idea to start one of these so that I can improve my writing while also having another avenue to write seeing that my longfic is a long-term trilogy/project.
> 
> Do note that I have marked the story as complete as all one-shots will be unrelated, and the likely fact is that this story will only be sporadically updated if and when I get an inspiration or a prompt that strikes me.
> 
> Your prompts can be anything as simple as just a character, or a few (OCs are welcome too), a setting is also welcome (AU or Canon is fine) and a simple guideline like hurt/comfort or fluff. Romance, Friendship, Family or Rivalry's are all good with me.
> 
> Be warned, I do love me some angst. My readers can testify to that, I'm sure.
> 
> This first one-shot starts out with Percabeth in Tartarus.

Annabeth

Darkness—damp, dreary, desolate. That was all there was to this hellish scape. How long had it been since she'd last seen light? Days…

No, it had been more. Weeks, at least—perhaps months. She supposed, it didn't matter. Nothing did. There was no escape. But there was Percy. And that was enough. _He_ was enough.

"Annabeth," Percy's voice hitched.

Practically leaning on each other as they trudged forward, Annabeth cast him a sideways glance. Even that in itself wore her down. Not the simplicity of the action, but…

Percy. He had never been so frail, so devoid of all things that made him…him. No, that was not at all true. Underneath the shroud that had suffocated them both was the boy she had fallen so deeply in love with. The lopsided grins, the sarcastic quips, the infuriatingly charming yet stupid questions. She would give anything and everything to unearth him.

But she could not deny the fact that they had both changed. For the worse or better, time would tell. Perhaps it wouldn't, perhaps it would all end sooner or later.

"You're slowing down," Percy continued, his eyes nothing like they used to be. What were once resplendent orbs of light had become a suffocating torrent that mirrored their prison. This was all her fault wasn't it. Percy would perish because of her. Because she had been stupid enough to get caught by that web. "Stay with me, wise girl."

His words were desperate, but his tone wasn't. A crinkle of that cracked lips and…

Light. There it was. A smile that reached his eyes for the first time since—Annabeth was not quite sure when—not after Akhlys or even the _arai._

"We're getting out of here," his smile growing. "How many times have they tried to kill us?"

The proverbial they in this case, referring to every living mythological creature that had ever existed.

Annabeth thought about it for a moment, smiling out of habit. Of all the moments they had shared. He was right, wasn't he. This was not so different from what had come before. Death had always hung over them. They had even held the sky for god's sake.

"Too many," she answered.

"Far too many," Percy nodded in agreement. There it was again, the faintest flicker of light. A flicker of defiance—defiance against the fates themselves. That, he had not lost for even a second. She had once thought it sheer stubbornness, then later, teenage rebellion. She had been wrong, which of course, was the rarest of occurrences. It only added to the enigma that was Percy. Quick to temper yet eternally patient. Completely obtuse but utterly intelligent. The love of her live yet her biggest mistake.

"Don't," Percy's voice sliced through her thoughts. "Don't think it for even a second. I made my choice. And I would make it again. When will you understand that there is no fate worse than being apart from you? My only regret was that I couldn't somehow stop you falling in here with me. Maybe if I used my powers…maybe I could have bought the others time to save you."

Annabeth felt herself melting. And it was not the river Phlegethon's doing. Throwing up her only defense against him, she teased Percy. "You do realise falling into Tartarus yourself would lead to our separation?"

Percy of course had long since learnt that her defenses were only a façade. He leaned in, lips brushing against hers. "You have a point. But my fate is irrelevant when compared to yours. That then becomes a question of happiness. And I would have been the happiest demigod alive, had I saved you from this." He kissed her, a gentle kiss that had no choice but be a rough one with how dry their lips had become.

This was wrong. All wrong. But it felt so right. She shouldn't have held the kiss. She should have instead told him to kill that ridiculous notion that her life held more worth than his. She should have insisted the opposite true. Perhaps then he would have just let her go.

"Annabeth," Percy whispered as they peeled apart, his eyes pinning her with the weight of the ocean as he leaned his forehead against hers. "Please…remember our promise."

Swept under his tide, she answered. "As long as we're together."

"As long as we're together," he smiled back.

Then he crumbled apart into smoke and ash—swirling and suffocating.

_Percy!_

One excruciatingly long heartbeat later, and the hellscape was restored. Towering before Annabeth were the Doors of Death. Slabs of stone that would have inspired horror even in the cruelest of beings. Some sights were just not meant for mortal eyes. She flinched and turned away, only to be greeted by a sight infinitely worse.

Tartarus. A swirling mass of darkness. So tall, it made the doors look like those in the tiny dollhouse her father had made for her all those years ago. It was as if Typhoon and Nyx had a child. And stood between Annabeth and the void was Percy with his hands raised wide. If only it had been Typhoon, maybe then Percy's powers would have helped.

She screamed his name, the effort of it shattering her lungs. The pained smile he shot over his shoulder, shattering her will.

' _Go,'_ he mouthed as he turned to face Tartarus. The Primordial reached towards Percy, a million little tendrils of darkness shooting from his hand and through Percy's chest. The world went silent as she heard his body thud against the cobbled stone. Annabeth screamed and still all she heard was that whispered breath of his, the echoing resonance of his end. And all she saw was the frail boy with the frail smile gone pale.

He was alive. He had to be.

Annabeth charged forward, the world around her, irrelevant. There, the slightest twitch of his fingers-

And just as she finished her thought, she was sent flying back and through the doors. And so that was it, the end of one darkness but the start of another. She felt herself sinking—falling and fading into nothing.

* * *

Annabeth's fall came to a heart-stopping halt that sent her mind racing. She reached instinctively for Percy but all she gathered were a bundle of sheets. _He was gone_ , the realization spearing through and splintering her from within. And then she was screaming again, thunderous wails that wracked through her more violently than all the curses she had every endured.

Annabeth's lungs refused to take in air, her strangled sobs not helping the matter. As her vision blurred, her survival instincts had her rolling off the bed and tumbling to the ground in an attempt to shock her system. It did not work. All it did was make the pain worse as she reached desperately to cling to anything. Something solid before the world faded away—before she faded away.

And just as she felt she were to be swallowed whole by the gaping void before her; she was blasted with a blinding light. Two figures lifting her back to the bed, their hands running along her arms and cheeks. It took her some time to acclimatize. To realize who these people fussing over her were.

"Dad?" she whimpered. "Where am I?"

He exchanged worried glances with his wife, before answering. "You're home. You're safe."

 _I'm alone,_ her mind reeled. The images of Percy's lifeless body drowning out their voices.

"Annabeth," her father's voice unusually unwavering, hand squeezing her shoulder. "We're here for you. What do you need?"

"I need him," she muttered, head held firmly in her hands, as if the act might hold together what was broken. Her trembling suggested otherwise.

"Who, dear?" her step-mother asked. "Percy?"

Annabeth did not remember nodding, only trembling, but her father took it as an answer.

"I have his mother's number for emergencies. I'll give her a call now."

"No!" Annabeth managed, not sure where she had gathered such strength. She could not fathom for a second why her father thought that a good idea. Oh gods, how was Ms. Jackson coping.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he persisted. "A short call won't be too dangerous. I have been briefed you know."

"But-"

"No buts," her father was already reaching for the phone. "If this is what you need, I'm sure Percy would understand. He is perfectly capable of defending his home."

_Percy?_

"Percy's alive?" Annabeth gasped. "He made it out?" The baffled stares she received for those questions quickly morphing into pity.

"He is," Annabeth's father answered.

"He did," her step-mother answered shortly after. "Don't you remember dear? He left you at the airport with us only yesterday."

_Yesterday?_

Annabeth scoured her mind, reaching past the panic and towards the part of her that made her, _well_ her. The unyielding source of reason and sound thought that had gotten her this far.

Her memories spilled forth in waves as she tried internalizing them. The action akin to cupping water within one's palms. As expected, there were gaps—holes in the past few weeks. But at least it made some semblance of sense now. What she had seen earlier was not what had occurred. Only a nightmare warped so closely from reality it had somehow become so for a moment. But that was not how that day had gone. Percy had not faced Tartarus. He had dropped his sword and ran with her. She had never been so glad of his valor failing. Then again, it had never failed before.

It had been Bob that had stayed behind. Not Percy… _not him_ , the words echoed in her mind. The quest was over. They had defeated Gaia. They were safe.

"Do you want to make the call?" her father's question tugging her back to reality.

"No," Annabeth answered. There was no reason to send Percy into a panic or to put him and his mother in danger. She was fine-

A lie, because the moment she thought it, the images she wished weren't ingrained in her mind returned in relentless swathes. It had been like this every night, hadn't it? Every waking moment too. But usually, she had Percy. And that was enough.

"Dad," Annabeth whispered after reigning in her scrambling panic, "Will you stay awhile?"

"Sure, dear," he answered, looking at her step-mother as if to ask permission. Her returning smile was warm as she kissed her husband then Annabeth's cheek.

"Take good care of her," Annabeth's step-mother teased as she slipped out the room.

A moment of silence ensued, peaceful if not a little awkward. Then her father spoke.

"What happened Annabeth?" he cupped her hands within his. "What happened in Greece that haunts you so. Talk to me. You know you can tell me anything."

"I do," Annabeth held his gaze. "Yet there are some things better never recounted or spoken of again. If not for your sake, then mine. All that matters is that I survived, and I was not alone when doing so."

"I can't help you if I don't know what you've been through," he sighed. "Please, I know I was never a good father but I'm trying to be."

Why did he see fit to push her? Didn't he understand?

 _No. Of course he didn't. There weren't many who could._ And how could he if she insisted on keeping him at a distance. For all his earlier ineptitude, at least perceived by a seven-year-old Annabeth, he had done everything she needed of him since.

"I…," she stammered. These words would never be easy. "I fell into Tartarus."

"What?" her father bellowed, nearly falling of the stool he had dragged to sit before her. "A metaphor, surely?"

Annabeth shook her head.

"I'm sorry," her father cut-in, horror still written across every inch of him. "You don't have to continue."

"I want to," said Annabeth. "I'm not ready to share the details yet and I don't know if I'll ever be able to. But I only survived because Percy chose to fall with me."

"He truly is a remarkable young man." Her father's half-smile dumfounded in its conception.

"He is," Annabeth's returning smile sheepish. "I can't…" she broke off, still searching for the words that could convey what it is Percy meant to her. "I can't go on without him. I just don't have the strength."

"Then I shall drag him here myself right this instant," her father announced in feigned seriousness. "What say we bust out that Sopwith Camel of mine again?"

Annabeth laughed at that, shoving her father playfully as he let out a hearty chuckle.

"I am being serious, you know," Her father continued. We'll get you a flight first thing tomorrow, I promise."

The thought of being with Percy again latched on to her and refused to let go. The weight of it dragged her dangerously back to the abyss. Tomorrow seemed impossibly distant.

"Dad,"

"Hmm?"

"I know I only arrived, and I know you have been terribly worried about me this past year and that all you want is for me to be safe at home but-"

"You need to leave," he finished for her. His tone suggesting a solemn yet mirthful resignation.

"And you're okay with that?" Annabeth asked, tentative in her approach. "Even if left right now?"

"I would prefer you didn't," he admitted, adjusting his spectacles as he leaned back. "I would prefer my family be complete. But I have understood for some time now that you have forged a family of your own. You had every right to. I let you down. I'm glad there were those who didn't."

Annabeth's recently dried cheeks, finding themselves dripping cold again.

"I'll help you pack," he said, as he brushed away her tears with the back of his hand. "Do you want to say goodbye to the twins?"

"I'd hate to wake them," Annabeth's said, uncertain for just a heartbeat if she really did want to leave behind what she had only recently regained.

"And they'd hate to wake up to a missing sister who thought it better to leave without a word."

* * *

Annabeth found herself falling again. This time she had a destination in mind. This time she landed on her feet…barely. The hallway was dimly lit, the Manhattan skyline glittering through the window at its end. Nico steadied her by the shoulder before hunching over to catch his breath. She had heard Percy describe the experience, but It was infinitely worse to be the one experiencing it. It felt as if her insides had been eviscerated then put back in place. The churning of her stomach partly of guilt.

"You good?" she offered him a pinch of ambrosia. She did have a knack of packing every essential possibly required.

"Yeah," he said, still chewing.

"I'm sorry for asking this of you. I know you're still recovering from the-"

He waved away her concerns and stood tall. "I shadow travelled across the world. I think I can afford a few trips around the country."

Annabeth could not help the pride that bloomed in her chest and it showed in her smile. He had come a long way from the scared child she and Percy had rescued.

Nico, being Nico, turned away and avoided her gaze, fidgeting with that stygian iron ring of his. "I know I've probably said this already. But I'm glad you and Percy made it out of there. I wish I had the strength to pull the both of you up."

"Hey," Annabeth nudged him gently. "You had the strength to let us go. That's something too. Without you the quest would not have succeeded. Gaia would still be alive. We'd probably be all dead."

He stayed silent after that. They both did. The moment passed and Nico turned to the shadows.

"Do you want to join me? I'm sure Percy wouldn't mind."

All he did in answer was raise his hand in a parting wave, not even turning her way as he melted into the shadows. How did he do it? How was he so strong? How had he survived that place alone and still emerged almost unchanged. Stronger even.

With nervous anticipation tingling through her, Annabeth proceeded down the hallway, her steps feather light. She realised how ridiculous she was being. She had spent the better part of the last five years with Percy. They had been through everything together. And if there was one place or person in this world, she could always feel safe or even comfortable around, it would be him. But paired with that reason of hers came the treacherous sceptic. The ever-tiresome cynic that never gave her the solace of a silent reprieve. Always whispering the stupidest things, polluting the depths of her mind.

_Will you not give him a moment's peace? Hasn't he suffered enough at your hand? Wouldn't it be better if you left and never returned? Maybe then he might grow old and live a blissful life._

Annabeth had grown accustomed to this of course. But words, especially those forged by thyself, had the tendency to sneak up on you. Especially, when one's defences were made vulnerable, and in her case, non-existent.

And so, the panic she had seemingly buried rose forth like an avalanche, and all she could do before she lost control was swing her weight into the door she stood before, slumping down along its surface.

 _Not now,_ she thought. Not when she was this close to him. In the long silence that passed, Annabeth's mind did not halt its churning out of demons. Eventually, in the numbness of it all, a sound broke through to her. A cry she knew too well. Stifled into the barest of whimpers. Suddenly all semblance of panic vanished, dissipating out of her system in a dizzying haze. She was calling for him, reaching for the doorknob, all the while listening to the smooth rumble of his voice. The way his breath caught on her name. Desperate, feverish moments—

And then they were in each other's arms, the movements no less desperate. Scrambling across the floor as they hung on to each other.

"You're here," Percy breathed, fingers combing through her hair. He was laughing. _Actually_ laughing. It did not seem possible. Not with how shattered he had looked when she first swung open the door. How hauntingly dim his eyes had gone. When had such a familiar sound become so strange? This sound that was everything to her. "What were you doing on the floor?"

"I could ask you the same," she teased, but he read her as she did him. What was there to rise for if not each other?

"Is that flour you're covered in?" she observed.

Percy grinned, "Yeah, Mom and I were baking cupcakes." It seemed, the inability to sleep was not mutually exclusive to her. She wished it were. If there was anyone who deserved their rest, it was Percy.

"I presume they were of appropriate colour," she managed, willing her thoughts to disperse from that dark chasm.

"What do you take us for?" Percy feigned offence. "Savages?"

"Never," Annabeth answered all serious. "Your mother is far too perfect. You on the other hand…"

"Hey," Percy glowed with mirth despite his protests. He was staring at her now, practically drinking her in. She found herself doing the same. The feverish desperation having cooled into something entirely different. A steady sort of relief. A part of her had felt exactly like this when they were falling into Tartarus. Here and now, limbs tangled, the same words echoing in her mind. _As long as we're together_.

"Stay with me, wise girl" Percy brushed his lips against her neck having pulled her close. She was leaning back against his chest, shivering at the contact. "I can't go on without you."

Hearing her thoughts echoed back at her was like a weight being lifted off her chest but another one sliding into place. A heart to fill the whole in hers. Annabeth embraced the sensation, sinking further into his warmth, letting it consume her.

"Believe me I've tried. Last year…when I thought my fate sealed—that I was the hero of the prophecy…that distance I tried but failed to impose, it killed me. I think it's part of the reason I accepted my fate. But then I was given a second chance. Painful as it was. Everything I endured was for you. Saving the world was always the afterthought."

Feeling as if her heart were to burst from the gravity of his words, the tender conviction laced between each and every one of them, Annabeth brought them to a sudden halt, her lips pressed against his. When she pulled away, Percy was wearing that heart-stopping smile of his. There he was. The boy unearthed.

"So," Percy dragged the note. "That's a yes?"

"I suppose," her mind racing with the logistics of it all. "But I'll need to finish high school," she stopped to scowl at his smile turned amused. "And I'll need to find a room to rent."

Percy seemed to flinch at her words. She tilted her gaze to his—

His lashes lowered, fingers fidgeting against hers, "I thought that maybe you'd stay _here—_ just for a while, of course." He stumbled over his words in awkward motions. "Till the nightmares go."

" _Would they ever?"_ washer first thought. " _Did it matter?"_ The final one.

"Would you mother be—"

"It would be my pleasure," Ms. Jackson emerged into the hallway.

"Mom," Percy yelped, his arms loosening around her. "You're awake."

"Percy," she chirped disapprovingly, or at least in an attempt to appear so. The slight curl of her lips betraying her. "Is this how you treat your guests? She's barely through the doorway and you've already badgered her with requests of your own."

"Sorry mom," Percy apologised, rising to his feet, and pulling Annabeth to hers in flustered motions.

"Help her get settled into the guestroom," said his mother. "I'll finish up the cupcakes."

* * *

Sally

Sally had awoken abruptly to Percy's cries, finding herself sprawled across the sofa, her first and only thought to rush to him. She had been up all night, trying everything she could to exorcise Percy's demons. To, at the very least, suppress them for one night. Her next course of action would have been bringing him to Montauk. But having spent months at sea during his quest, she feared it'd trudge up things better left forgotten.

But before she reached him, his cries were replaced by laughter. And that had her halting her tracks. The sound was everything to her. And then came another voice, one only too familiar. One that explained the change in Percy. She decided it best to give them a moment.

Barging in during what she deemed an appropriate time, Sally shot Annabeth her best smile, hoping that it conveyed her gratitude. She sent them off to get Annabeth settled in and returned to the cupcakes. The entire time, she wondered why it was they were being so quiet. It was highly unusual of the two.

Once she was done with the cupcakes, Sally nudged the door to the guest-room open, a tray of said cupcakes in her hand. She was greeted with a sight of both comfort and soul-shattering somberness. Two beautiful young lives that deserved so much better than the world had offered them. A world that owed its continuing existence to them twice over. A world that had not spared them a single comfort in return.

And with those thoughts came the tears. But despite it all, despite all the horrors, a small part of her was glad for it. For all that had happened to them. Perhaps that made her a terrible mother. But how could she not be, for through it, they had found each other. A love so rare, it had slain giants. A love so strong, it held the sky. A love so pure, it conquered hell.

* * *

**And there's that. My first ever one-shot. Hope you all enjoyed it. Don't worry, this will not get in the way of me posting my Longfic.**

**Please leave a comment or kudos if you'd like to see more.**

**I'd really appreciate it.**


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